We've compiled a list of some of the best must read procurement white papers and analyst reports (in no particular order of importance or preference) covering a variety of topics such as supply chain management, tail spend and the future and digitization of...

Companies spend up to 20% of their revenues on frequently ordered low value goods and services. These transactions are too small to be managed by procurement experts and too unpredictable to be sourced by a single vendor catalog. Claritum streamlines sourcing, procurement and billing in one easy to use cloud based platform.

The goal of automation in procurement should be to speed up processes and free employees from repetitive time consuming admin. This will enable staff to focus on higher value tasks. In procurement a high percentage of jobs and processes are repetitive or similar which...

Keeping up to date with constant change is one of the challenges of being a procurement professional. Fortunately there are some great procurement blogs and resources out there to help you stay up to date with all the latest ideas and innovations.

Todays chief procurement officers have to face many procurement challenges in an increasingly complex environment. They can no longer focus purely on reducing costs and delivering goods and services. As the role of procurement within organisations continues to expand...

What an exciting and insightful show! And a great chance to network and develop new connections. A few of the Claritum team made the trip to Olympia London last week for the TFM&A event and it was definitely time well spent. It’s always good to keep updated on new...

Follow our 5 steps to achieve Procurement Maturity. What stage is your business at? Businesses experience common problems which occur at similar stages in their development on the road to maturity. Identifying where your business is in it’s development can help you to...

When determining a procurement strategy businesses typically ask themselves a few key questions. Should we centralise or decentralise? Is it better to outsource or in-source? Do the benefits of near-shore outweigh those of far-shore?

Collaboration is in the interest of all organizations involved in the procurement process. Gone are the days when the supply chain was a purely linear affair. Today, supply chains comprise competitors who can be partners, customers who can be collaborators and...

Sooner or later there will be no low-cost countries left to meet apparel industry's ever changing demands. Adverse publicity about ‘sweat-shop’ labor, changing public opinion, non-availability of labor, and delays are all contributing to this, making apparel...

Major regional projects in the Middle East are being constricted by lack of investment in procurement. Findings shows that Middle East organizations are struggling to get procurement positioned as a strategic function yet, out of 100 procurement professionals...

If Nike the sports Brand was software, it would be e-procurement, which is now becoming fast, fleet of foot and a nimble world-class player. Procurement is now much more of a utility type, online service, where things can be easily switched on and off using...

The whole procurement process can be complex, labor intensive and time consuming, but it needn't always be like this. The procurement process itself requires a focus on strategies surrounding three distinct areas of the business: cost savings, profits and compliance....

Smart PSPs monitor and refine processes and supplier performance, streamlining and automating and freeing up expensive resources to spend more time adding value to their client’s business and growing their own revenues. It’s this desire to grow revenues that sets fast...

Government plans to streamline procurement process paves the way for SMEs to access massively lucrative public sector contracts. The current initiative, inviting feedback and opinion, closes on the 13th November and forms part of the new "Small Business, Enterprise...

Companies are turning increasingly to organizations like Amazon when it comes to implementing user-centric systems to help them reach out to the edges of their own organizations and rein in maverick spenders. That's according to Claritum, leader in cloud based...

E Procurement is a system which enables an employee, procurement officer or end user/buyer, to make a purchase of remote goods and services indirectly. E Procurement automation encompasses the entire process from the moment a decision is made to make a purchase,...

The shifting procurement landscape has been throwing up some interesting theories and predictions of late, with many people speculating where the sector may be in ten years time and how the function can be of even greater value to businesses. One theory of interest...

Case studies show that firms are likely to recoup their investment cost* when implementing a cloud based spend management system, so why aren't more leaping at the opportunity? Once implemented, spend analytics show that savings will accrue from lower transaction...

Recently, it's been interesting to see numerous LinkedIn group discussions arising between supply management leaders, focused upon what leading procurement groups are doing to provide value after they've been involved in "strategic sourcing" for several years. These...

The tension between marketing and procurement teams has been well documented, with long-running debates about procurements part in marketing’s outsourcing process or whether they should even be involved at all. Marketing and Procurement It seems that relationship is...

Half of CPOs believe procurement related risk has increased in the last 12 months, according to the Deloitte Global CPO Survey 2013. Whether risk has actually increased or CPOs are simply more aware of it due to heightened media attention is immaterial. Risk...

As we slowly creep toward brighter economic times, the focus on cost cutting that comes naturally during austere periods is moving on too. While 88% of CPO’s believe they have fulfilled or exceeded their savings targets over the last five years, only two thirds...

A great article from Peter Smith at SpendMatters. (I’m pleased to welcome Ashima Malik as a guest writer. Ashima is an experienced sourcing professional, now working as a Senior Consultant for Infosys BPO). Ever been to a party and the sight of the sumptuous buffet...

Today, we continue our multi-part series on Supply Management: Big Trends & Predictions for 2013 with a look at supply management solutions. Click here to read Part One of this series focused on Big Data. Click here to read Part Two of this series focused on...

Buyers will concentrate their efforts on cost cutting over the next year, while also trying to reduce supply risk and increasing their strategic value to the wider business. The 2013 Procurement Pulse, conducted by Science Warehouse in association with eWorld...

A tactful, informed approach to this well-guarded category will bring the best savings, says David Meikle If generalisations or conventional wisdom eventually become truths then to date, marketing and procurement have made pretty unhappy bedfellows. But, together or...

Relationships 101: Back to Basics for Supplier Management Many of the issues in modern supply chains aren’t actually due to globalization. Rather, they’re a result of a de-emphasis in the importance of managing the relationships that “turn the wheel.” Many...

The UK government is calling for “quantifiable progress” towards collaborative procurement across higher education institutions this year. The annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England from business secretary Vince Cable and universities...

What is SaaS? 10 Frequently Asked Questions About Software as a Service While the technology world is laser focused on the software-as-a-service (SaaS), or “cloud,” phenomenon, a lot of companies with which we speak aren’t as familiar (gasp!). That’s changing,...

Procurement skill and understanding is limited and undervalued in UK businesses, a new survey has found. A report published by specialist procurement advisory network Expense Reduction Analysts (ERA) found that 77% of survey respondents took a short term view when it...

What exactly is game theory and how can it help in procurement and supplier management? Angus Craig and Daniel Crease do the maths. Working life is all about our interactions with other people and the way we choose to react to different people in different situations....

When the Spend Controllers Meet the Creative Innovators You don’t have to look too far to find a large amount of commentary and views on whether Procurement should be involved in marketing services spend or how organisations want to ensure they get value from their...

According to Bruce Murray at Expense Reduction Analysts, top companies are 'wasting millions' in marketing and print procurement. Top companies wasting £600 million per annum on inefficient marketing procurement The vast majority (88%) label current marketing...

Companies are increasingly willing to discuss mutually beneficial collaborations with other firms, to deliver cost savings, according to 4C Associates. In the consultancy’s 10 predictions for 2013, research showed more businesses, particularly in the logistics sector,...

Developing better relationships with stakeholders is a priority for nearly half of buyers this year, according to the latest SM100. In the poll, buyers were asked to identify from a list of five, what their main priority - excluding cost cutting, which has topped the...

The approach you take depends on your organization's marketing procurement maturity. Marketing is a substantial investment at most companies, often equaling double- and triple-digit millions of dollars each year and running as high as 3-5 percent of gross revenues....

Businesses are increasing their collaboration with suppliers, and boosting the amount they save their organisation as a result. According to the fourth global supplier relationship management (SRM) survey conducted by consultancy State of Flux, 93 per cent of...

The Cabinet Office has said it can save up to £600 million a year in administration costs by centralising some of the work of back-office functions such as procurement and payroll across government. The Next Generation Shared Services Strategic Plan, published last...

Local councils have been told to share back office functions and buy goods and services together to gain discounts and reduce administration costs. In a document, 50 ways to save: examples of sensible savings in local government, published by the Department for...

According to recent survey findings from a Demand Gen Report, nearly all (94 percent) B2B buyers view content from a variety of sources before making a purchasing decision. The survey, which included more than 170 responses, was designed to gauge the latest trends in...

In today’s uncertain economic climate, many businesses are looking to increase their profit margins by focusing more on cutting costs rather than increasing revenue. In many instances, this goal may be desirable if a company can sustain current revenues while...

Companies are not getting full value out of centralising procurement in tax-efficient locations by failing to factor in the importance of the area’s operational capabilities. Speaking at the Procurecon 2012 conference in Brussels last week, Alaba Adedayo, a director...

As organizations continue to look for savings and efficiencies, print procurement is providing new opportunities to deliver tangible bottom line benefits. The ranks of expert print buyers are shrinking fast, but companies that have strong procurement technologies and...

Buyers need to reassess their approach to marketing spend if they’re to start adding strategic value and stop butting up against marketeers More than ever, it seems that the procurement function is getting involved in the purchase and commissioning of marketing...

European Union member states should pool spend on cloud computing technology to invest in finding cheaper, more effective solutions for the public sector. The strategy, published yesterday by the European Commission (EC), identified a number of actions member states...

The CBI has called on the government to increase competition in public services by putting more contracts out to tender - a move it says will save billions. Open access – delivering quality and value in our public services published today, calculated the average...

Reducing non-labour costs has the potential to deliver much more value to the bottom line of leading companies than by cutting staff. The £10 billion profit opportunity, published by procurement outsourcing firm Proxima, calculated non-labour costs accounted for 68.3...

It’s amazing how many organisations segment print into category silos and miss out on significant opportunities for savings and efficiencies. Documents, operational print and marketing print are often considered as discrete requirements and most reviews will focus on...

Developing a procurement strategy that aligns with the overall objectives of their company is more important to senior buyers than making savings, research has found. GEP Value Trends: Procurement Strategy, which surveyed more than 50 senior procurement professionals,...

European firms wasting millions procuring marketing products and services, a new report has claimed. According to a forthcoming study from marketing production specialists Charterhouse, Europe’s top-500 companies are wasting an average of €716m on inefficient...

The amount of global outsourced procurement deals and the value of them have both increased for the second year straight. Procurement Outsourcing Annual Report 2012 – The PO Market: Steadily Marching Forward, published this week byEverest Group, said the cumulative...

In a recent article from Supply Management (www.supplymanagement.com): The challenge of getting indirect procurement right makes it “a sexy place to be” for procurement professionals. This is the view of Rachael Stormonth, senior vice president at outsourcing analyst...

In the 1970s, consumers found themselves caught up in a ‘format war’ – the battle for supremacy between electronic companies to produce the market-leading videotape recording system. In the end, the market was narrowed to two choices – Betamax or VHS and consumers who...